That said, I am absolutely appalled at what has happened to a church in Israel recently. The expression of hatred towards
Christian beliefs and institutions rivals that of pre-Holocuast Germany of the
mid 30s. Anti Christian graffiti on the walls of a church and the recent public
tearing up of the Christian bible by a Keneset member are acts reminiscent of the
anti Semitic graffiti seen on the walls synagogues and Jewish owned businesses in
Germany.
Unfortunately I can all too well understand why this is happening.
It is a culture of hatred of the Goy that permeates certain circles. And a
history of anti-Semitism perpetrated against our parents, grandparents and
great grandparents going back for centuries in Europe - pre dating the Reformation.
The Church had always had it in for the Jews back then.
Persecutions were often sourced in what the Church saw as heresy on our part
for denying the divinity of Jesus. They either wanted to convert us or destroy
us. That finally came to a head during the Holocaust… where Christian Germany with
centuries of hatred imbedded in their souls - ingrained in them by previous
generations underpinned the Nazi determination to annihilate us. Even though
the expressed hatred was entirely racial, not religious.
So it is not a surprise that certain Jews react reflexively
to non Jews by hating them. Nor is it surprising why that hatred produced this
kind of activity. When hatred is ingrained in this historical way we cannot
expect tolerance. I am reminded of a tape I once heard by a Chasidic Rav saying
that eventhough we must have good relations with gentiles, we must hate them!
That is incorrect. There is no Mitzvah to hate non Jews.
There is a Mitzvah to treat all of humankind with the dignity they deserve as
God’s creations. Created in His image! There is instead a Mitzvah to enlighten
the nations with the morality, values, and ethics of the Torah. In fact according
to one source I saw, the reason for our lengthy exile is precisely for that
purpose – to get the rest of the world to believe in God and to appreciate the
truth of the Torah.
Why doesn’t the segment that fosters the kind of hatred displayed
in the above mentioned acts abide by any of this? In certain cases historical
experiences combined with an insular lifestyle and lack of education prevents
them from seeing reality.
In other cases, it is simple fanaticism as seems to be the
case here. Some of the graffiti indicates that this was done by fanatic settlers
of Ramat Migron and Maoz Esther as a ‘price tag’ operation for the police
closing down two structures in Migron.
This is an outrage! No matter how justified these illegal
settlers feel they are in building illegal settlements, and no matter how angry
they are at the Israeli government for doing it, they have no right to
retaliate. Certainly not against innocent Christians!
They probably think this is a Mitzvah. But they are wrong.
This is a completely immoral act that is inexcusable!
The Christian world of today does not hate us. Many of them,
such as the Evangelical community embrace us. And since Vatican Two, Catholics
no longer believe in the doctrine that blames us for the crucifixion. We are now considered their ‘older brother’
religion. These new attitudes are clearly and constantly expressed in tangible
ways. Relations have never been better.
While there still may be pockets of Christian anti Semitism – they are
relatively few in number and in any case non violent. (With the obvious exceptions of fringe groups
like the neo-Nazis and the KKK.)
But the people who do this kind of thing either don’t know
any of that, or don’t care. They will say that all this ‘love’ is false. Or
that is it just a ruse to convert us. Most of them will not however be stupid
enough to act on it – especially as an act of revenge against the government!
But you only need a few who do. And that is what seems to have happened here.
It is futile to try and teach these people how to behave in
the civilized world. They will not listen – rejecting anything we tell them
that contradicts their pre-conceived notions. Notions of anti gentile hatred that
is so ingrained it would be easier to separate them from their right arms!
The only thing we can do is protest it as loudly and as clearly
as we can. And to apologize as did the Chief Rabbi of Israel:
Israel’s Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger spoke out against the “heinous deed.”
“I object to any attack on a holy site, and hope the perpetrators are punished,” he said in a statement to AFP. “I do not know who was behind the deed, but if it was Jews -- I ask for forgiveness.”
The rest is up to the government of Israel. They have to put
in the extra effort to catch those who did it. And to prosecute them to the
fullest extent of the law! And if a lawmaker tears up another Christian bible,
he ought to be at the very least publicly censured by the Keneset! The last
thing any Jew should ever do is act like a Nazi!
